Eat for Health

When I saw the invitation from Mrs. Sencan Arikan, Vice Chairman, Anatolia Formosa Association, I was thrilled to know it was about the food safety. On top of that, the keynote speaker is Professor Tsung-Yun Liu, an old colleague of mine at the Department of Health. Not having seen Professor Liu for more than three decades, all I saw was wrinkles of his profile photo. I thought I might just look old to him, too, when he sees me.

Indeed, it's a great pleasure to see an old friend with whom I worked with on Hepatitis B Prevention Project when I just came back from the US in 1983. Dr. Liu has not changed at all, easy-going and friendly as usual.

Dr. Liu mentioned about the recent news about carcinogens of McDonald’s French Fries in Taiwan. In fact it was old news of acrylamide produced in the heated condition of carbohydrate and aspartagine. Fortunately, I am not crazy about French Fries. But I don’t mind having tiny amount of acrylamide in my favorite pork stew. For pregnant women, they can't be too careful to pay attention to the food they consume.

The biological condensation was a catch-up for me. I must have learned it before, but I just forgot all about it. As some toxic substances are deposited in the fat tissue, it is important not to lose weight suddenly to increase the toxic compound level in the blood.

Everyday, five kinds of vegetables and fruits (three vegetables and two fruits) are recommended, for the purpose of chemoprevention. Photochemicals, such as sulforaphare (green), procyanidins (red), indole-3-carbinal (yellow), are anti-oxdiants. They are good for beauty and youth. The greener, yellower, redder vegetables and fruits, the better. Consuming local vegetables and fruits in season is the key to stay healthy and fit.